Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, May 10, 1995

1995-05-10 04:00:00 PDT Moscow -- MiG-29 fighters streaked overhead and tank after tank tore up the pavement yesterday as Russia marked the 50th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany with a ground-shaking display of military might.

President Clinton, who arrived in Moscow early yesterday, and other Western leaders boycotted the parade of more than 200 armored vehicles and 70 aircraft to protest Russia's war in the breakaway region of Chechnya.

But Clinton and about 50 other world leaders attended a parade of World War II veterans in Red Square, the ceremonial opening of a war museum and a reception in a glittering hall of the Kremlin. They were paying homage to a nation that lost nearly 27 million people in the war -- roughly 100 times the U.S. casualties -- and that considers the victory its greatest success of the 20th century.

"I have come here today on behalf of all the people of the United States to express our deep gratitude for all that you gave and all that you lost to defeat the forces of fascism," Clinton said at a ceremony in the just-completed Victory Park. "In victory's afterglow, the dream of peace soon gave way to the reality of the Cold War, but now Russia has opened itself to new freedoms.

"We have an opportunity and an obligation to rededicate ourselves today to the promise of that moment 50 years ago when Europe's guns fell silent," Clinton said.

Clinton's aides have said from the outset that his reason for appearing in Moscow, rather than at the weekend's British observances, was to honor the enormous sacrifices of the Russian people, not as a favor to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Clinton emphasized that theme in his brief remarks, which were often addressed directly to the Russian veterans and their families.

"You wrote some of the greatest chapters in the history of heroism," he said, and he noted that "the Cold War obscured our ability to fully appreciate what your people had suffered and how your extraordinary courage helped to hasten the victory we all celebrate today."

The solemn pomp and great-power pageantry of yesterday's events, without any of the light-hearted sentimentality of the anniversary celebrations in London, reflected the weighty presence in Russian memory of a war that claimed the lives of one of every eight people. They also showed Russia's eagerness, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, to remain a major player on the world stage.

The ceremonies capped a roving summit of world leaders that began in London, moved to Paris and Berlin on Monday and ended in Moscow. Victory Day is celebrated in Russia on May 9 -- not May 8 as in Western Europe -- because Josef Stalin ordered his own V-E Day ceremony on May 9, 1945, to pay special tribute to Soviet forces.

Clinton and Yeltsin will hold six hours of talks today on a range of contentious issues, including the war in Chechnya, Russia's planned sale of nuclear reactors to Iran, NATO expansion and arms control.

White House press secretary Michael McCurry said movement on any of those issues toward the U.S. positions depends on the meetings today. "There has been no change in where matters stand," McCurry said.

Another senior official said the "most" the United States can hope for on the sale of reactors to Iran is that Yeltsin will agree to study intelligence data and other information that Clinton will provide him and agree to take another look at the transaction.

Yeltsin had hoped that his military campaign to subdue Chechnya would be over by now. But fighting is still going on.

Because of the continuing war, Clinton, Major, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and other leaders stayed away from the noontime military parade, the first in Moscow in five years and by some accounts the largest in four decades. Nearly 10,000 troops and more than 200 tanks, armored personnel carriers, missile launchers and self-propelled cannons -- versions of the nation's latest weapons -- rolled by as jet fighters, bombers, tankers and giant cargo aircraft flew low overhead.

The military parade did not pass through Red Square, its usual route in Soviet times. While Yeltsin had described the change as in deference to Clinton, construction near Red Square also made the normal route impractical.

Clinton's sensitivity toward the Chechen conflict was clear when officials said that even up to 12 hours before the veterans' parade, U.S. officials were seeking assurances from the Russians that they had not violated their understandings by placing veterans of the Chechnya war in the parade.